Rangers recession

Henrik Lundqvist shows his frustration after being substituted against the Philadelphia Flyers. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Ryan Dixon
2009-02-16 14:16:00

Given the way the New York Rangers started the season, it's incredible to see how bleak things have become on Broadway.

A Blueshirts team that posted 10 wins in October has just one this month with February past its halfway point. The Rangers won their first five games this year and went 10-2-1 in the season's initial month, but it's been a steady decline since then with the bottom completely falling out recently.

New York's power play ranks 28th in the league, Chris Drury is on pace for 48 points, Nikolai Zherdev is back to being Nikolai Zherdev and Henrik Lundqvist can't fudge it for this team forever.

All this must have GM Glen Sather asking one thing: is Sean Avery in game shape yet?

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS

RK.

TEAM

LW

OVERALL

L10

THE SCOOP

1

5

37-17-3

8-2-0

Won a 1-0 duel with the Bruins, then a 6-5 goalfest with the Sharks

2

2

37-12-8

6-3-1

Pavel Datsyuk is the league's quietest superstar

3

4

36-16-5

6-2-2

Mike Green injects all kinds of fun into the NHL

4

1

39-10-8

5-2-3

Too good and deep not to pull out of this recent nosedive

5

9

30-16-9

6-4-0

Mike Richards scored while his team was killing a 5-on-3 for the third time in his career, setting an NHL record

6

3

37-8-9

4-2-4

One win in their last seven, but this feels more like a character-build than a real sign of trouble

7

8

33-18-5

5-4-1

Mike Cammalleri had a two-goal game on New Year's Eve and has 15 goals in 19 games in 2009

8

6

31-15-8

6-4-0

Hopefully Patrick Sharp wont' be sidelined too long with his knee injury

9

19

28-23-5

6-3-1

Get ready for a March with meaningful games, Jackets fans

10

18

27-26-3

7-3-0

Barry Trotz just always keeps this team competitive

11

7

27-21-7

7-3-0

Consistent production from rookie Fabian Brunnstrom would sure help down the stretch

12

11

28-20-8

7-3-0

Must be happy they resisted the urge to move Tomas Vokoun when Craig Anderson was hot. Vokoun has been awesome in the second half